As the Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA), which is part of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, announced on X (formerly Twitter), the railgun was successfully tested in cooperation with the Japanese Navy.
This was the first time a railgun was fired on a ship. The speed of the projectiles is 2,230 meters per second, which corresponds to 6.5 Mach. The service life of the railgun’s rails is said to be 120 rounds, which is very short for a naval gun – the regular Bofors 40 Mk4 naval gun has a barrel life of more than 5,000 rounds.
#ATLA has accomplished ship-board firing test of railgun first time in the world with the cooperation of the JMSDF. To protect vessels against air-threats and surface-threats by high-speed bullets, ATLA strongly promotes early deployment of railgun technology. pic.twitter.com/MG5NqqENcG
– Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency (@atla_kouhou_en) October 17, 2023
Other countries abandoned the development of the railgun in 2021 in favor of hypersonic missiles. This included the USA, which mainly had technical problems with the railgun. The heat from firing wore down the rails and other components too quickly. Japan, however, not only stuck with the railguns, development was even considered a top priority there. Thanks to Japan’s progress in the field of materials science, they could possibly solve the problem of wear and tear.
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